ZAMBIA DROUGHT RESPONSE OPERATIONS PLAN September 2019 0 Zambia Drought Response Operations Plan September 2019 1 Generic Outline for Country Operations Plans 1 GENERAL INFORMATION Contact details of the legal representative and focal point for the operations plan Name of Country: Legal representative Name: Mr. Chanda Kabwe (permanent Title: Permanent Secretary secretary/ministry) for Ministry/department: Office of the Vice President, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit plan: Email: [email protected] Phone: +260 966826422 Focal point (or primary Name: Mr. Anderson Banda contact person) for the Title: Director, Disaster Risk Management plan: Ministry/department: Office of the Vice President, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit Email: [email protected] Phone: +260 9558 38380 And; Name: Mr. Lenganji Sikaona Title: Assistant Director, Prevention and mitigation Ministry/department: Office of the Vice President, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit Email: [email protected] Phone: +260 9699 16058 1.1 THE STATUS OF THE COUNTRY IN TERMS OF RISK Brief Overview of Zambia in terms of climatic risk 2 Country overview and potential Hazards Zambia is a landlocked country located on the central plateau of the southern African region, with a land area of 752,612 square kilometres and a population of over 17.9 million. Like most countries in the southern Africa region, Zambia is exposed to a number of hazards such as floods, droughts, epidemics, environmental degradation, human/animal conflicts, food insecurity, animal and plant diseases and pests, and road and water accidents, when these hazards affect populations which are not resilient and adaptive to such hazards, the resulting impact is a disaster. The most common disasters Zambia has experienced in the last decade include droughts, floods, pest infestations, epidemics (both human and animal), hail storms and landslides. Further, it has also experienced man-made hazards such as fires, transport and industrial accidents. An increase in trans-boundary risks that are being progressively exacerbated, by population growth, eco-system degradation and unplanned urbanisation. Such risks coupled with high poverty rates and unsustainable land-use management has worsened the current situation thereby reducing the coping capacity and resilience of most communities. In addition, climate change and variability has made it more difficult to predict the behaviour of hazards. Climate-induced changes to physical and biological systems are already exerting considerable stress on the country’s vulnerable sectors. Agriculture and food security, wildlife, forestry, water and energy, health and infrastructure have been adversely impacted, thereby affecting the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development efforts Vulnerability In Zambia, Agriculture contributes 20% of GDP and accounts for more than 60% of the labour force. In the rural areas, agriculture is the main employer responsible for over 80% of employment. The majority of farmers, almost 98%, can be classified as small-scale farmers whose agricultural activities are almost 100% dependent on rainfall. Therefore, the agriculture sector in Zambia is extremely vulnerable to rain fall patterns which have become more unpredictable under climate change (NAPA 2007; Phiri et al 2013). Like most countries in Southern Africa, El Nino induced drought episodes are increasingly becoming common. Floods and droughts have increased in frequency over the past three decades. For Zambia, based on historical records of El Nino events, the southern half of the country is usually prone to drier conditions (NCCRS, 2010). Drought, flooding, extreme temperatures and prolonged dry spells are 3 threatening rural livelihoods through crop failures and degraded food and water security systems. In the last two to three decades, yields for crops such as maize have been severely affected by extreme drought, flooding and rainfall deficits (NAPA 2007). Climate induced variability undermines attempts to reduce poverty and food insecurity, since most of Zambia’s poor population consists of rural small-scale farmers dependent on climate sensitive economic activities, such as rain-fed agriculture, for their sustenance. According to Zambia Vulnerability assessment reports, the country has a history of drought experienced over a number of seasons for the past thirty years for the following seasons 1987/88, 1991/92, 1994/95, 1997/98, 2001/03 and 2004/05, 2011/12, 2015/16 ,2018/2019 If this sequence is to be followed it means that the country experiences drought every 4 to 5 years. The frequency may likely increase due to the impacts of climate change. Capacity To respond to the effects of these disasters the government has been making efforts to create permanent response mechanisms to deal with these threats while strengthening its preparedness and resilience of communities to reduce impact of these disasters. This includes prevention and mitigation measures such as instituting a strong legal framework and institutional arrangements notably Disaster Management Act and Policy, Disaster Risk Management Frameworks, Climate change policies. It has also created platforms where various sectors such as Agriculture, Education, Health, Water, security meet on a regular basis to develop integrated plans that address disaster risk. Zambia has also strengthened its multi hazard early warning system, from grassroots to national level, through the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment committee, annual forecasting assessments are conducted to determine the seasonal outlook and to put in place appropriate strategies that respond to the anticipated climatic conditions. In preparation for response, Zambia has a multi- hazard national contingency plan (CP) which is developed on an annual basis, to respond to the seasonal outlook. The CP has a number of measures planned for before during and after the disasters. These are broken down to sectors. Other mitigation measures include provision of drought resistance of tolerant crop varieties for the staple crop, winter cropping, conservation farming etc. The government has also tried to include a micro insurance package on the provision of farming inputs. However, these have been challenging during seasons extreme nature or larger magnitude either of shock of either drought or flood. In Such situations, the 4 government has also employed short term measures such as provision of relief to affected households. However, funding of these initiatives has been a challenge on government resources which are intended for other development activities. In light of all these efforts and challenges, there is need to explore innovative financing mechanisms such as insurance systems that are linked to specific trigger levels of shocks/disaster such as the African Risk Capacity initiative, which can provide an early source of financing and early response and alleviate the dire situation that vulnerable households go through. It will also help reduce pressure on government budget and also reduce international response appeals especially during this time characterised by increasing donor fatigue. 5 1.2 AGRO -ECOLOGICAL MAP Zambia has three main Agro-Ecological Regions (AERs), as indicated on the map above (Region I-in purple, Region IIA and IIB-in green and Region III in yellow). Region III experiences quite different climatic conditions from region II and I, this is due to the varying altitude and climatic regions based on where the three regions are located geographically. The average annual temperature and rainfall between the regions varies, which results in different climatic risks. (Region III has higher risk of flooding while Region I and II have higher risk of drought because of low levels of rainfall. ▪ Region I is a low rainfall (<800 mm/year) area which covers the country’s major valleys ▪ Region II, the medium rainfall (800-1000 mm/year) area, covers Sandveld plateau of Central, Eastern, Lusaka and Southern provinces. ▪ Region III has the highest rainfall (1000-1500 mm/year) 6 Annual rainfall is strongly influenced by the shifting of the Pacific Ocean’s El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the Congo Air Boundary. 1.3 THE PURPOSE OF THIS OPERATIONS PLAN The operations plan (OP) which will be a subset of the National Contingency Plan is a preparedness tool for drought, that identifies key activities which will be undertaken by the Zambian government to respond to drought, should there be a pay-out from the ARC. The operations plan also articulates how the various roles and responsibilities will be shared between key sectors. In addition, the plan defines how beneficiaries will be targeted and funds will flow from the ARC to the beneficiaries. The Operations plan details how these ongoing activities will be scaled up in the event of a payout, how implementation will be monitored and evaluated. The plan uses country existing disaster management structures that span from nation to satellite or community level. The Operations Plan is also meant for the ARC Governing Board to determine that the country’s proposed activities meet the eligibility and implementation standards that it has established. After approval the ARC Governing Board then issues a Certificate of Good Standing. The certificate acts as prerequisite for the purchase of drought insurance with the ARC Ltd by the recipient country. 7 2 INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY This section describes the institutional arrangements